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Topic: NZ weather summary May 1969 (Read 475 times)

May 1969: A cloudy month, with the second half more unsettled than the first. Pasture growth and stock health were generally good, but parts of Wairarapa and Canterbury reported a shortage of winter feed. Cook Strait and some surrounding areas were buffeted by violent southerly gales on the 8th.Rainfall: Over the greater part of the country rainfall was close to or somewhat below average. In most western and inland districts of the South Island and in Taupo, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay it was less than 3/4 of average. The only areas with rainfall well above average were coastal Otago and western Northland. In both of these the surplus was more than 50%, and parts of Otago around Palmerston received double the normal rainfall. In western Northland daily falls of 3”-4” were recorded on 20 May. Several stations reported thunderstorms, causing flooding in parts of the Hokianga district.

Temperatures: Temperatures were close to or somewhat above average. Snow fell on the Mackenzie Country during a spell of cold southerly weather from the 7th-10th. Another southerly spell, on the last 4 days of the month, was much colder, especially in the North Island, bringing snow to the high country.

Sunshine: Sunshine was below average over the greater part of the country. The deficiency amounted to 30-50 hours in eastern districts, and around Auckland and Queenstown. New lows for May were set at Auckland (83 hours), Blenheim (115) and Hanmer (64). Sunshine was close to average on the West Coast, from Taranaki northeastwards to Rotorua, in parts of Manawatu, and in Nelson.

Not too flash! Not a low record either … that was 3.2 in 1992. However the 38.0 in 1968 (i.e. the year before) was much better, record high 42.7 in 1943.

An interesting place is South Orkney, close to the Antarctic peninsula - I see data that say it has less than 500 hours annually, but I'm not sure about the site exposure.That is something else! Surrounded by cliffs?

Nice shot. Of course it is quite a lot colder than Campbell being further south, but I suspect not much duller. There are some spots near northern Norway in the 500-600 sunshine range, as I recall. But Campbell is pretty impressive for its latitude.